


Prologue to Resolutions

by LeftyVoyager



Category: Star Trek: Voyager
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-05
Updated: 2016-09-05
Packaged: 2018-08-13 03:07:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 554
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7960042
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LeftyVoyager/pseuds/LeftyVoyager
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>How did Janeway and Chakotay come to realize they had contracted their illness in the episode Resolutions?  This story is an attempt to answer that.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Prologue to Resolutions

Chakotay remained on the bridge while Janeway retired to the ready room. It was several hours after they returned to Voyager from the new M-class planet they had taken a shuttle to, and there were teraquads of data to review. Chakotay mused on how nice it had been to be on the planet's surface. It was so earthlike, they had almost been able to forget Voyager 's predicament for a while. He was also pleased with how relaxed the captain had been - she had been so tense lately that he was thinking of recommending to her that she cut back on her hours. 

After about an hour, Chakotay walked into the ready room without chiming. It was common for them to work in this way - she had told him so long as the privacy lock wasn't activated, he was welcome to barge in. He was surprised to see that the lights were dimmed, and the captain was not at her desk.

Wiping some sweat from his brow, his eyes searched the room, finding her still form draped across the sofa. "Captain!"

Janeway stirred slowly at the sound of the commander calling her. She felt sluggish and her body ached. "Commander?" He worked to help her into a sitting position.

"Captain, you're feverish!" Chakotay exclaimed.

"I don't feel well," she agreed. She sighed as she considered the hike to sickbay from the ready room.

"Chakotay to sickbay!" 

"Kes here, Commamder. How can I help you?" answered the Doctor's unofficial assistant.

"The captain is ill. Please order a site-to-site transport to sickbay."

"Standby for transport," said Kes. 

While waiting, Chakotay walked over to the captain's terminal and sent a quick note to Tuvok apprising him of the situation. Shortly after, the transporter whisked them to sickbay.

***

Chakotay adjusted the neck of his turtleneck uncomfortably as the Doctor provided his report of the captain's illness. The commander then wiped his sleeve across his forehead.

"It appears the virus was transmitted by insect bite. I would like to examine you as well, Commander."

"Me?" asked Chakotay, "I feel fine."

The Doctor passed his tricorder over the commander. "Yes, you seem to be faring better, but don't you think there is an explanation for why you are sweating like a pig in a temperature-controlled room?"

Chakotay groaned inwardly. The top two officers taken off the roster for illness. It was a classic reason why they shouldn't leave the ship at the same time, but he had convinced her that it would be fun to explore to surface together and get plant samples for the hydroponics bay. It was a task he should have taken Kes with him to complete, but she was busy helping the Doctor with the annual physicals, and he thought this was the perfect chance to get the captain to relax. As he predicted, her scientific curiosity quickly kicked in, and the stresses of running the ship were pushed to the back of her mind. It was his job to lighten her load, was it not?

"I suppose a failure in life support systems has been ruled out," Chakotay quipped, dryly.

"I'm afraid so. I see the same strain of virus in your system as well. I'm afraid I'll have to check you in," said the Doctor, guiding him towards an empty biobed.

***

Segue to Resolutions...

**Author's Note:**

> I don't know exactly why I wanted to explore this, but there are a few points I was hoping to convey. One, I wanted him to find her incapacitated and have him express concern while capably handling the situation. I wanted to establish that even in such a situation, he would still call her Captain at this point in their relationship. I wanted to show him trying to lighten her load, and a little guilt for what happened instead. And I guess I wanted to show that they realized there were risks to leaving the ship together and a possible reason why they did it anyway.
> 
> I don't know that as a story, this is all that interesting - it's certainly not romantic. But it wanted to be written, so let me know what you think!


End file.
